The Spaniard Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek) kept his pink leader's jersey for 12 seconds, ahead of the Portuguese Joao Almeida.
For the victory, Hindley launched the sprint from distance and preceded Bardet and the Olympic champion, the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz.
Spaniard Mikel Landa took fourth place ahead of Almeida and Italian veteran Domenico Pozzovivo (39).
In the general classification, five riders (Lopez, Almeida, Bardet, Carapaz, Hindley) are now within a range of 20 seconds on the eve of the rest day in Pescara.
In this 191 kilometer stage, the Italian Diego Rosa approached the final ascent in the lead, ahead of a trio of counter-attackers (Peters, Dombrowski, Sepulveda), after the fall of the Eritrean Natnael Tesfatsion who went straight on the previous descent, without major bodily consequences.
But the gap, less than two minutes on the peloton of favorites, melted even before the long and hard climb of the Blockhaus (13.6 km at 8.4%).
Italian Giulio Ciccone and Briton Simon Yates let go on the first slopes.
Lopez lost contact after a collision 8 kilometers from the summit but saved the essentials.
Hindley, 26, won a stage of the Giro for the second time, taking second place in the final classification in 2020, only beaten on the last day by Briton Tao Geoghegan Hart.
© 2022 AFP